I love Vince’s thought process. We have this very strict budget we’re trying this year. When we were doing our planning, we had several conversations about what we think we need to spend.
Our budget isn’t a traditional budget. We mostly want to know what we really need to be spending. It isn’t like if we buy a pair of jeans, we can’t pay the electric bill. I also didn’t budget for things like property taxes, vehicle and homeowner’s insurance. We just want to know our average monthly expenses. So, it isn’t really a “budget” per se, but a guide to spending.
Vince: How much for clothes?
Me: I don’t need any clothes. I have every size jeans, I have fabric to make tops. I have everything.
Vince: Me too. So I’ll just put zero for clothes!
Yesterday Vince found some sweatpants on sale.
Vince: Do you need any sweatpants or sweatshirts?
Me: No, I don’t need any clothes.
Vince: Do you mind if I order a couple of pairs of sweatpants?
Me: Do you mind if I order a couple of skeins of yarn?
He did order the sweatpants but I didn’t order the yarn.
Another of our planning conversations.
Vince: How much should we allow for Amazon?
Me: Nothing! We have everything we need.
Vince: What about books?
Me: Our Kindle library is full of books we haven’t read and we have the Unlimited so we can read a lot of books on that for free.
Vince: Ok. I do have a lot of books too.
Yesterday . .
Vince: I think we should each get $25 discretionary spending.
Me: Is that per day? Per week?
Vince: No . . it’s a one time thing. I just bought $25 in books from Amazon.
This is going to be so fun to watch because it’s all his idea and he thinks I’m the one who can’t stop shopping.
Last night when we were going to bed . .
Vince: How much did you spend today?
Me: Zero!
Vince: You didn’t accidentally order anything?
Me: Nothing!
Vince: I’ll do better tomorrow.
He won’t! 🙂
As I was getting ready for bed last night, I was kinda congratulating myself for not buying anything and then I thought . . it’s ONE day! Let’s see how you feel about this spending plan on Black Friday, 2018. 🙂
Rebecca in SoCal says
That’s funny! The bargain hunter can’t just sit on his hands, can he?
Linda in NE says
Funny! I just knew Mr. Bargain Shopper would have trouble with a restrictive budget. Also, isn’t Kindle Unlimited like $9.99 a month? I’ll be looking forward to more budget stories as the year progresses. Should be interesting.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, but that’s budgeted in. We read enough to make that worth the $$.
Jackie says
Makes me think we should really try doing this as well, just to see what we really spend per month. Hubby is supposed to retire in a year.
Judy Laquidara says
There’s so much to learn before retiring. We had never really sat down and talked with our financial guy about anything but saving for retirement and now that it’s getting close, there’s provisional income and minimum required disbursements and taxes at this rate and taxes at that rate. It’s so crazy that you try to save for retirement and if you go of “x” amount, 85% of your social security is taxed. I say spend it all now and be done with it!
Sherrill Pecere says
Oh good grief!! Sweatpants AND books when you already have plenty?!! HA
Krista says
It’s going to be an interesting year 🙂 When I restricted myself to a budget, I quickly figured out that just because I don’t need X, and haven’t bought any X for the past year, I need to budget some small amount towards it monthly – because eventually it will jump up and bite you. I should probably do that again – my “discretionary” spending is a bit out of control these days.
Judy Laquidara says
We’re not trying to do a real budget . . just a day to day ordinary expense tracking type budget. If there are car repairs or house repairs — anything not what we usually spend. we’ll just pay it and move on. Things happen and I’d rather pay them when they happen than carry $50/month for possible car repairs or a/c repairs.
Dar says
Laughing out loud here at Vince! So funny! One suggestion regarding a clothes budget…unless you’re planning to make underwear for the both of you…..just sayin… ;-D
Judy Laquidara says
This is just a one year practice budget. I buy that stuff when it’s on sale so I have several year’s worth that have never even been opened. I’m good . . probably for the rest of my life.
Joyce says
I was giggling a bit at Vince! I do ok for the first few days of the year, but after that… I’m going to try to have a year of planned spending. No spur of the moment “oh look, I want that”. If I think I want/need something, I need to check prices and watch for sales as much as possible. I’m also trying to cut way back on my yarn and fiber spending…
Cindi says
I went backwards on ours. I figured out how much we spent the previous year. 2018 is the first year we will truly be living on retirement income. It seems so weird to be spending what we have spent so many years saving. Good luck!
tiptopquilts says
Oh Funny. Just think, of all the money you’ll have for Black Friday, if Vince continues shop and you don’t. I’ve always had a strict budget, but my husband at the time, put 25.00 into his checking account each week…wasn’t much, but if he wanted something “extra” once in awhile, I couldn’t say anything. Now, I’m really tightening the budget, as my 19 year old has figured out he needs to go to college in order to have money!
Lisa Simon says
This story made me crack up! I needed that today.
Terri says
This is going to be a fun year reading your stories. You are a very good storyteller!
One day at a time!! 🙂
cassews says
Oh my I cannot wait to see how this non budget works out ..
Joyce in Oregon says
My husband and I have lived on a “budget/guideline” for nearly 33 years when our child was born prematurely… he was born in March and I wanted to pay off all his birth bills by December. We’ve always given ourselves an allowance in the budget and it served us well. My husband retired in May and he, too, is finding that I’m not the one impacting the budget. 🙂 I’m looking forward to following your adventure!
Susan says
Your budget should actually contain a discretionary allowance. Even my friends who are on a VERY strict budget give husband and wife $10 each per week. If you don’t spend it, you can save it for Black Friday, 2018. =)
Penny says
Attempting to not watch the news on tv before going to bed ~ a very bad habit that I need to break again! Mostly can’t get to sleep or sleep well after seeing such dire news reports. So this cute & very funny report about Vince is a pleasant thought for bed time! Still laughing! Thx!
Karen Sutton says
Thank you for the morning laugh. I agree with Susan – negotiate for $25.00/month and save it for Black Friday. Where there’s a will, there’s a way:) LOL
Pamela C says
You are such a great story teller! I was laughing out loud while reading about Vince. Thanks!